American snuffboxes of gold are extremely rare. On this example, the cover is decorated with a biblical scene, probably based on Samuel 16:77–22. The harp player David, sent by his father to assuage King Saul's anguished mind, appears before him with offerings of bread, wine, a donkey, and a kid. Myer Myers, the maker of this box, was a New York silversmith who also lived briefly in Norwalk, Connecticut, and Philadelphia. He is listed in the 1786 New York Directory as chairman of the New York Silversmiths' Society.

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